1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a system for temporarily shoring up an excavation site. More particularly, the invention is directed to a shoring beam extension and reinforcement assembly for an excavation site shoring system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical excavation site, workers are exposed to numerous hazards. The most common hazard is having the walls of the excavation site cave in on the workers, thus causing serious injury. Often, due to soil conditions and wetness, the sides of a construction site will simply collapse. Water is a particularly dangerous hazard because it is so heavy and can destroy shoring that has not been properly reinforced. Realizing this problem the government, at both the federal and state level, has set up specific requirements for all excavation sites to avoid the problem of cave-ins. For example, the United States Department of Labor and, more specifically, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), requires that excavation sites be prepared with some type of shoring. Additionally, many companies are now aware of the problems involved in a typical excavation site and have developed internal policies requiring shoring for any excavations they contract to have completed.
A good example of a typical excavation project is found in replacing underground storage tanks for a gasoline station. In such an operation, sheet piling is pounded into the ground in a generally rectangular configuration around the work site. The piling has to be driven extremely deeply into the ground and arranged to provide sufficient support against potential cave-ins. Typically, the sheet piling has to be driven so deep that half its total height remains underground after the excavation has been completed. Use of such large amounts of material is quite expensive. After the sheet piling has been installed, the workmen then remove the dirt and fill material from within the rectangular shoring. During the work of removing the old storage tanks and replacing them with new storage tanks, the shoring provides protection to the workmen against potential cave-ins. Once the storage tank replacement operation has been completed, the shoring can either be completely removed or simply cut down to a safe distance below ground and then left in place. Such a method of shoring an excavation site is extremely expensive.
One solution to the problem is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,092, which is incorporated herein by reference and discloses a corner connection for temporary shoring providing a connector for interconnecting various beams used to reinforce shoring. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical excavation site 205 incorporating a temporary shoring system as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,092. Excavation site 205 includes an excavation hole 206 incorporating corner connections 211-214 for temporary shoring 218. Temporary shoring 218 comprises three major elements: interlocking sheet piling 219, I-beams (wales) or shoring beams 220-223 and corner connections 211-214, each connection including two connectors for the I-beams 220-223. Interlocking sheet piling 219 is placed along the walls of the excavation hole 206. Typically, a driving machine 225 is used to drive each section of piling 219 to a desired depth within the ground.
A reinforcing structure 226 is provided behind the interlocking sheet piling 219. The reinforcing structure 226 includes the set of I-beams 220-223 that interact with the set of corner connections 211-214. Additionally, a reinforcing assembly is provided, which includes a reinforcing bar 320, a first spacer bar 322 attached to the reinforcing bar 320 and first shoring beam connector 229, and a second spacer bar 324 attached to the reinforcing bar 320 and second shoring beam connector 230.
The system of the '092 patent utilizes connecting members to secure I-beams together at the corners of an excavation site. With this arrangement, the sheet piling does not need to be driven so deep as before. As a result, less sheet piling is used and the sheet piling is cheaper to install. Although an improvement over prior shoring arrangements, the shoring system of the '092 patent is not easily adapted to different size excavations because each side of the arrangement is the length of one I-beam. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an inexpensive shoring system that can easily be expanded and used on a larger scale.
The following invention addresses the problem of large excavation sites by provided an improved temporary shoring arrangement including a removable shoring beam extension and reinforcement assembly.